The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I, Part 9

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company
Number of Pages: 1038

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Supplies were also levied on the three towns as follows: Windsor was to furnish sixty bushels of corn, fifty pieces of pork, thirty pounds of rice, and four cheeses. Hartford was to furnish eighty-four bushels of corn, three firkins of suet, two firkins of butter, four bushels of oat- meal, two bushels of peas, five hundred pounds of fish, two bushels of salt. Wethersfield, one bushel of Indian beans, and thirty-six bushels of corn. Each plantation was to have its corn ground, and one-half baked in biscuit. It was furthermore ordered that there should be fur- nished "one good hogshead of beer. for the captain, minister, and sick

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

men :" and " if there be only three or four gallons of strong water, two gallons of sack." Mr. Pynchoon's shallop was employed for the orca- sion. Thus equipped. the troops of the several towns rendezvoused at Hartford May the 10th, where they found a "pink, a pinnace, and a shallop" awaiting them. Here, also, they were joined by seventy Mohe- gan and River Indians, under Uneas. The staff of command was duly delivered to Captain Mason by the venerable and reverend Dr. Hooker of Hartford, whose colleague, the Rev. Mr. Stone, accompanied the expe- dition as chaplain. Dr. Thomas Pell of the Saybrook Fort was the sur- goon. The soldiers were "encouraged by the Rev'd ministers," a night was spent in earnest prayer, and the next morning, followed by the tears and lingering gaze of the relatives and friends whom they left behind, that little fleet of "pink, pinnace, and shallop," with " many Indian canoes," dropped down the stream. Never before nor since did the placid bosom of the Connectient bear a more precious freight.

It is not our purpose to accompany them during this short but deci- sive campaign, the details of which are to be found in every history of New England.

Let us, however, return to those who were left at home within the Palizado of Windsor. What their feelings and forebodings were in the absence of their friends we can learn from the following letter, written May 17th, two weeks after the departure of the expedition. It is addressed by Mr. Undlow to Mr. Pyncheon, who, with a few others, had commenced a settlement at Agawam, now Springfield, Mass.' He says: "I have received your letter, wherein you express that you are well for- tified, but few hands. I would desire you to be careful and watchful that you be not betrayed by friendships. For my part. my spirit is ready to sink within me, when, upon alarms, which are daily, I think of your condition, that if the case he never so dangerous, we can neither help you, nor you us. But I must confess both :om and ourselves do stand merely on the power of our God; therefore he must and ought to have all the praise of it." Further on, in reply to Mr. Pyncheon's urg- ent request to have some assistance sent to him at Agawam, he says: "I can assure you it is our great grief we can not, for our planta- tions are so gleaned by that small fleet we sent out that those that remain are not able to supply our watches, which are day and night, that our people are scarce able to stand upon their legs: and for plant- ing, we are in a like condition with you : what we plant is before our doors -little anywhere else. Our fleet went away tomorrow will be seven-night."

But the decisive battle of May 26th had been fought - the Pequod power was broken, the vietorions little army was on its homeward march,

I See Coll. Muss. Hist. Smitty.

WINDSOR'S HEROES IN THE PEQUOT FIGHT.

full of joy and gratitude for success such as they had hardly dared to hope. Mason was " nobly entertained with many great guns " by Capt. Gardiner at the Saybrook Fort, and the welcome which awaited his gal- lant troops on their arrival home was indescribably warm and enthusi- astic. A day of special thanksgiving was proclaimed throughout the colonies, and everywhere the song of exultant victory was blended with prayer and praise to Him who ruleth on high. In all these rejoicings. we may well believe that the good people of Windsor had their full share. Captain MASON, the " very foremost man of them a'" was their towns- man. So was brave Sergeant ALVORD. So were THOMAS BARBER and EDWARD PATTISON. whose valiant right arm caused seven Indians to " bite the dust." So were lucky THOMAS STILES and JOHN DYER. who were singularly fortunate in escaping with their lives, being each of them struck by arrows, which stuck in the knots of their handker- chiefs, a twin-like coincidence, which is justly commemorated by Capt. Mason in his account of the battle, as among the " wonderful provi- dences " of the day.' Nor was the valiant Captain himself without his " special providences " in that fearful fray, though, with a modesty as characteristic as his bravery, he makes no mention of it. Yet we have it upon good anthority, that, in the thickest of the fight, an Indian drew "an arrow to its head" full upon the Captain, whose life was only saved by an opportune thrust of a comrade's sword, which ent the bowstring." We may well imagine that wondering child-

1 See Nilox's Indian Wars ; also, A Brief History of the Pequot War : Especially of the memorable taking of the Fort at Mistick in Connecticut, in 1637, written by Major John Mason, a principal actor therein, as their chief Captain and Commander of Connecticut forces; " published at Boston in 1736, and republished in the collections of the Mass. Ilist. Soc'y, vii., 20 series.

2 Trumbull says that this was Sergt. Davis, but Capt. Mason himself mentions Davis as one of the party who attacked the other entrance of the fort, and were driven hack by the flames of the burning wigwams. It seems certain, from accounts of the battle, as well as from tradition, that William Hayden of Hartford was the lucky man who saved the Captain's life. At the commencement of the attack, the Captain, Lieut. Seeley, and sixteen others, effected an entrance into the fort, and in the hand to hand fight which ensued, Wm. Hayden distinguished himself by his daring and prowess. Mason, in his own narrative. while modestly omitting any reference to him- self, especially mentions the gallantry of Hayden; and Wolcott, in a poetical account of the battle, written in 1721, thus intimates that Hayden came to the general's assistance at a very critical juncture.

" But fate that doth the rule of action know, Did this unequal combat disallow, For quite too much to force one man alone. To beat an army, take a garrison, Sent Hayden in, who with his sun-steeled blade Joining the general, such a slaughter made.

That soon the Pequots ceased to oppose The matchless force of such resistless foes."

A sword, now in possession of the Conn. Hist. Soc'y at Hartford, is said to have

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

hood erept closer to the knee of manhood, and that woman's fair check alternately paled and Hushed as the marvelous deeds and hairbreadth escapes of the "Pequot fight " were rehearsed within the Palizado homes of Windsor. Nor were they without more tangible proofs. The Pequots were so thoroughly subdued, that they were hunted down like wild beasts, by small parties of those very River Indians, to whom, but a few days before, their name had been a terror ; and for a long time their ghastly grinning heads were brought into Windsor and Hartford, and there exhibited as trophies.

It would be interesting to have a complete list of the thirty gallant soldiers whom Windsor contributed to the Pequot expedition. Unfor- tunately, however, we can only name fourteen, who are certainly known to have belonged to the town.1

Capt. John Mason,

Nathan Gillet.

Sorgt. Benediet Alvord.

Thomas Gridley,

Thomas Barber,

Thomas Stiles,

Thomas Buckland,

Sergt. Thomas Staires,

George Chappel,

Richard Oshorn,

John Dyer. James Eggleston,

Thomas Parsons, William Thrall.

Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull notes "a Mr. HEDGE, who was certainly in the battle, and was probably from Windsor." Capt. Mason, in his narrative, says : "A valiant, resolute Gentleman, one Mr. Hedge, stepping towards the gate [of the fort] saying, ' If we may not enter, wherefore come we here,' and immediately endeavored to enter." From Mason's account we also infer that Sorgt. NICHOLAS PALMER of Windsor was engaged in this expedition.

In Dr. Trumbull's enrollment he gives EDWARD PATTISON (who orig- inally came to Windsor with the Stiles party in 1635, and is credited to Windsor's Pequot quota, in our first edition ) to Saybrook.

Capt. Mason states that there were but 77 white men actually in the battle : of the original 90 drafted for service, several were necessarily left to guard and man the vessels, while their companions went into the fight, and " none of these should be deprived of the honors of the expedition."

They were absent three weeks and two days. Every soldier received 1s. 6d. per day (reckoning six days in the week ) ; Sergeants, 20d. per

been the one used by Wm. Hayden in this battle. Its line of descent from him is at least unimpeachable.

1 This list is the result of much careful research, and may be depended upon as re- liable, as far as it goes, By availing ourselves of the Yankee privilege of guessing, we could easily till up our list, and probably with much correctness, but we prefer to state merely what we know, and no more.

THREATENINGS OF FAMINE. ETC.

day : Lieutenants, 20x, per week. The Captain 40s. per week. A large grant of land was also given to each soldier, and, to this day, the memory of an ancestor in the Pequot fight is an honorable heirloom in every Connecticut family.

The next month thirty men were raised from the three river planta- tions, who, under command of Lieut. Seeley, were "to set down in the Pequot County and River, in place convenient to maintain our right, that God by conquest hath given us." To this army of occupation, Windsor furnished ten men, also twenty bushels of corn, and thirty pounds of butter. By an order of the next court, June 26th, ten soldiers were added to this company, of which five were from Windsor. The town was also obliged to furnish the following additional supplies : - 1 Ram-goat ; 201h of butter; } C of cheese ; 1 gallon of strong water; 3 bushels of Malt." In the fall, also, Mr. Ludlow and Mr. Haines were deputed to visit the Bay, and enter into arrangements with the authorities there, for an offensive and defensive alliance against the enemy, and for a per- manent settlement in the Pequot country. But though the cloud of war had passed, still a new danger threatened the Colonies. The necessary expenses and supplies of the late expedition, although promptly and cheerfully met, had left the country impoverished and burdened with debt. Every article of clothing and food was purchased only at the dearest rates ; and the army had so drained the fields of laborers that their farms had been but partially tilled, and did not yield enough to supply their wants. The court, foreseeing the great scarcity of provi- sions, contracted (February, 1638) with Mr. Pyncheon to furnish the Colonies with 500 bushels of Indian corn, or more if it could be pro- cured. The inhabitants were also forbidden to bargain for it privately, and it was limited to certain prices, lest individual speculation should in- terfere with the public good. A vessel, belonging to Elias Parkman of Windsor, was also ordered to be sent to Narragansett to buy corn of the natives there. The winter was very severe, and Winthrop says, that " the snow lay on the ground from the 4th of November to the 23d of March. It was sometimes four and five feet deep. Once it snowed for two hours together flakes as big as English shillings." It appears from the records of the next court, that Mr. Pyncheon, being apprehensive that he should not be able to procure enough corn. Captain Mason and Mr. Ludlow were authorized to " trade to supply their own necessities and the necessities of some others that are in want." In spite of these precautions, how- ever, corn became so scarce that it rose to the extraordinary price of 128. per bushel. Thereupon, a committee was sent to the Indian village of Pocomtock (since Deerfield, Mass.). where they purchased so largely that " the Indians came down to Windsor and Hartford with fifty canoes at a time full of corn."

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

February 9, 1638, the court levied a war tax upon the towns, of which the Windsor proportion was $ 158 2%., to be paid " either in money, in wampum four a penny, or in good and merchantable beaver at 9x. per pound." Shortly after (March 8) the court order " that there shall be 50 costletts (or coats of armor) provided in the plantation, viz., Hart- ford 21, Windsor 12, Wethersfield 10, Agawam 7, within six months." These corselets were made of " heavy cotton cloth, basted with cotton- wool and made defensive against Indian arrows " - and were worn out- side of their skin, or fur, coats. Also " it is ordered that Captain Mason shall be a public military officer of the plantations of Connecticut, and shall train the military men thereof in each plantation, according to the days appointed ; and shall have £40 per annum to be paid out of the treasury quarterly." All persons above the age of sixteen were ordered to bear arms, except excused by the court. Commissioners and church officers, and those who had filled those offices, were exempted " from bearing arms, watchings and wardings." Magazines of powder and shot were established in every town; that of Windsor consisting of one bar- rel of powder and 300 weight of lead. Every plantation neglecting to provide such a magazine, within three months was fined £2 (408.) and 10x. every month until it was provided. Every military man was required to " have continually in his house in a readiness } a th of good powder: 2 lbs of bullets suitable to his piece; one pound of math if his piece be a matchlock," under penalty of 58. for every default.

The following order of the court of April 5, 1638, marks the first highway in Conncetient :

" Whereas there is a desire of our neighbors of Hartford, that there may be a pub- Hic highway, for cart and horse, upon the upland between the said Hartford and Wind- sor, as may be convenient, it is therefore thought meet ; that Henry Wolcott the younger, and Mr. Stephen Terry, and William Westwood, and Nathaniel Ward, shall consider of a fitting and convenient highway to be marked and set out, and bridges made over the swamps, and then it being confirmed by the court, the inhabitants of Hartford may with making a comely and decent stile for foote, and fence up the upper end of the meadow; this to be done by Monday, sevenights, upon penalty of 10x every default."

On May 3, 1638, Lient. William Hohnes, by authority of a power of attorney executed on the 20th of October previous by the company of New Plymouth, sold to Mr. Matthew Allyn of Hartford, all the lands, houses, " servants, goods and chattels," of the said company, in the town of Windsor. And thus was extinguished the last vestige of Ply- mouth right and title upon the Connectiont River. (See ante, p. 41.)

June 1st. " There was a great Earthquake, about 3 of the Clock in the afternoon, and about a fortnight before, there was a great thunder, and a thunder bolt at Hartford went through a house, and melted a [bar] and bailstones as big as a man's thumb." - Shorthand MS. Journal of Henry Wolcott, Jr., of Windsor.

THE CONNECTICUT COLONY ADOPTS A CONSTITUTION.

Jannary 14. 1638-9, will ever be memorable in the history of Con- nectient as the date of the adoption of its first constitution. Up to this time the necessary legislation of the three colonists had been transacted by the court, which first met at Hartford in 1636, and consisted of five magistrates, two from Windsor, two from Hartford, and one from Weth- ersfield, holding their authority from, Massachusetts. The commission had, in strietness, no force, proprio vigore, after the settlers left the terri- tory of Massachusetts, but it was useful as the basis of organization until a different form of government could be established. The commissioners were not usurpers : their anthority was originally valid beyond cavil ; they were rulers de facto ; their powers exercised benignly and wisely and were submitted to with cheerfulness and promptness. They met from time to time, as occasion required, until May, 1637, when commit- ters, afterwards called deputies, were elected by each town to assist the magistrates. From these two bodies grew our Senate and House of Rep- resentatives. In 1639, however, it being admitted that the people on the Connecticut were out of the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and the pat- entees of Connecticut having abandoned their proposed undertaking, the people of Windsor, Wethersfield, and Hartford met at the last-named place, and adopted a constitution for Connectient -the first written con- stitution, defining it own powers, which the world ever saw. This doen- ment. recognizing no anthority save God's superior to that delegated by the people, was drawn up by a member of the Windsor Church, Mr. Roger Ludlow, assisted by the magistrates. It was modeled on the con- stitution of the Congregational Church, and from the date of its adop- tion to the present day there has been no radical change in the forms or principles of the government of Conneetient.

" The men who formed this constitution deserve to be held in everlasting remem- brance. They were not ignorant. or rash, or timid men. They were Ludlow, and Haynes, and Wolcott, and Hopkins, and Hooker, and others of kindred spirits ; men of clear minds and good hearts -men who, in their views of civil and religious liberty, were far in advance of their age, and who, under the guidance of a kind providence, introduced a form of government which, for two centuries, has secured to the people of this state a measure of peace, of liberty, of order, and happiness not surpassed by any other people on earth. I say emphatically for two centuries. For the charter, obtained from Charles II, in 1662, did little more than assume and ratify the constitution of 1639. It left its great principles unaltered; and Connecticut was still a republic in every thing but a name.

" The constitution adopted in 1818 is altogether conformable, in its principles, to the compact entered into by our fathers; differing from it chietly in its adaptedness to a more numerous population, and to the interests of a more widely-extended and compli cated state of society."- Dr. Hlutires' Centennial _Address at Hartford. 1835.

" I tind in an okl Book that, March 10, 1638-[9], it was reckoned from the beginning of the plantation hitherto that there has died of old and young 27, but not their names expresed; but 2 that were members [of the church] and the Captain's [ Mason's] wife. VOL. I. - 10

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

Of children 16. of servants 8; and that there had been born of children from the beginning to this time 40, but have not their names." - Mattheir Grant's Old Church Rec.1

In 1638-9, the annual flood, which succeeds the breaking up of the ice on the Connecticut River, seems to have been unusually heavy. Matthew Grant's Church Record states that he found it in the " old book." that " the great flood began on the 5th of March [1638-9]. On the 11th of March it began to fall, but by reason of much rain on the 12th day, it rose very high. On the 14th, two youths drowned, being in a canoe on the flood, gathering up pales swimming on the flood, against Thomas Dewey's house, Matthew Ramend and Henry Lush .? On the 15th and 16th days it [the flood] had fallen near two feet, but on the 16th day was much rain and great wind out of the southeast, which made it an exceeding great storm. It indamaged houses, and break down many trees, so that by the cause of which rain, all the 17th and 18th day the water rose very high, more than had ever before been known by the Indians. It drowned many houses very deep, and indamaged many cattle over [i. e. East of] the [Great] river, for all the ground there was drowned to one little ridge, where Samuel Grant now lives.3 It carried away much timber and hay, and beat up pales out of the ground, and posts and rails, and carried them away, and whole trees and all. On the 18th day at night there was great fear of another storm of wind and rain. It began, but it pleased the Lord, it ceased quickly, and by the morning one might perceive the water was begun to fall, and so it con- tinued; on the 22d day at night it was well fallen, and yet it was as high as the highest flood we had known before."

"August 17th, 1639. Mr. Huit and divers others came up from the Bay to Windsor to settle."- Matthew Grant's MS. Church Record.

He preached to the Church of Windsor, on the day after his arrival, from I Cor- inthians, 12th Chapter, the last part of the 31st verse. - Henry Wolcott, Jr., MAS.

The arrival of the Rev. Ephraim Hnit was an era in the history of the town. Hitherto, the godly Mr. Warham, bereft by the death of Mr. Maverick in 1636, had been without any associate in his arduous pastoral labors, amid the harassing cares and trials of a new settlement. We can imagine, then, with what feelings of devout joy he welcomed one who was to be a teacher to his little flock, and a co-laborer in break- ing " the bread of life " to them. Mr. Hnit was then in the prime of life, possessing acknowledged abilities and high attainments. He had been pastor of Wroxall in Warwickshire, England, and had been prose- ented the year before for non-conformity, by the Bishop of Worcester, with the intent " either to reform or to punish him," which was probably

' This inestimable Windsor Record is reprinted in APPENDIX A of this volume. - HI. R. S.

3 These names are somewhat indistinct in the original manuscript.

" This was in the present town of South Windsor, just in the rear (or west) of the Theological Institute.

NEW ACCESSIONS TO WINDSOR'S PROSPERITY.

the cause of his coming to America. He was accompanied by the Gris- wolds and several other excellent families, members of his own church ; and was joined by many others in Massachusetts, while en route for Con- necticut, so that the arrival of his party formed a very considerable ac- cession, both in numbers and wealth, to the Windsor colony.

In fact, at this time, real estate at Windsor was enjoying what is known as, in modern parlance, "a boom." We have, besides the evidence supplied by the town land records, the testimony of the brothers Gris- wold ( Edward and Matthew) who came over with Mr. Huit, "that about the yeare 1639, . . many passengers came ouer, severall of which . settled at Windsor, and a generall expectation there was at that time, as appeared by discourse [among themselves, on ship-board] of many more passengers to come, and some of note . . by which meanes land at Windsor, nere the towne and redy for improument, was at a high price. But afterward people that were expected out of England not coming in such numbers as was looked for,' and some returning to Eng- land, and others remoncing to the seaside, the lands at Windsor fell very much in price."

Mr. Whiting of Hartford, Mr. Ludlow, John Bissell, and probably also the Allyns, Newberrys, Wolcotts, Phelpses, of Windsor, and Gov. Haynes of Hartford, seem to have been active dealers in lands; and that prices had risen to a " fancy " limit, is pretty evident from Matthew Griswold's statement, in regard to a contemplated purchase from John Bissell, that " I being not accomodated to my mind where I then lined at Saybrook, and haneing kindred of my owne, and my wine's at Windsor. Also, I went and adnised with my father-in-law Mr. [Henry, Sen. ] Woleot, who told me I had bid high enoffe." So. accepting the advice of so sound a counsellor, Matthew remained where he was; else he had probably added to Windsor's renown, the honor of his line, which abounds in governors, judges, and " men of high degree " to an extent unparalleled by any other American family.

The 10th of December, 1639, was probably " a high day " at Wind- sor, for then and there Mr. Init was solemnly ordained or " called to office," Mr. Warham preaching on the occasion from Titus, 1st Chap- ter, 5-9 verses."- Henry Wolcott, Jr., MINNS. We are not told what terms of settlement were proposed to him, but we find on record several grants of land, which show that his people were not unmindful of his material interests.2

Under the impulse of this accession to their settlement, the people of Windsor now began the erection of a meeting-house. Hitherto their time, means, and energies had been taxed to the utmost with the necessi-

Among these we may note Mr. John St. Nicholas, James Marshall, and others.

" See Chapter on Distribution and Plan of Windsor.

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

ties of daily life - the subduing of forest and field, the building of houses, and defenses for themselves ; and, in the doing of this, they had been obliged to face dangers and obstacles most appalling. Indian war, with its constant and depressing sense of insecurity ; thin erops and scareity of food ; winter in its severest aspects, and lastly, but not least, the Great Flood of the previous year, sweeping away all the results of their labors " with one fell swoop." Where they had assembled for wor- ship, during all this time, we know not, but probably, like their brethren at Hartford, they found insufficient accommodation in some rude log church, perhaps in some humble private dwelling, or, it may be, in the open air, under the wide shadows of some monarch eh.

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The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I, Part 9

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909 Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company Number of Pages: 1038

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company
Number of Pages: 1038